


You get me so high

by ioniks



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Athlete Johnny, Bad Boy Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Bottom Ten, Boys Kissing, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten & Nakamoto Yuta Are Best Friends, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten-centric, Consensual Kink, Consensual Underage Sex, Eventual Smut, Homesickness, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun & Suh Youngho | Johnny Are Best Friends, M/M, Making Out, Marijuana, Mark Lee & Suh Youngho | Johnny Are Siblings, Recreational Drug Use, Secret Relationship, Slow Burn, Stressed Lee Taeyong, Suh Youngho | Johnny is Whipped, Top Suh Youngho | Johnny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:20:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29011188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ioniks/pseuds/ioniks
Summary: Ten's parents owned a small Asian convenience store in the middle of the Chicago Suburbs, and Ten couldn't fucking stand it.He Couldn't stand how is stupid fucking parents had dragged him and his stupid fucking sister from the warm familiar streets of Bangkok to stupid fucking Chicago for absolutely no reason at all. But now that Johnny Suh was stood infront of him, the all-too familiar smile on his face and a blunt in his hand. Ten thought that maybe Chicago wasn't too bad.Not proofread
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 10
Kudos: 66





	1. Pluto Projector

Ten’s parents owned a small Asian convenience store in the middle of the Chicago Suburbs, and Ten couldn’t fucking stand it.  
He Couldn’t stand how is stupid fucking parents had dragged him and his stupid fucking sister from the warm familiar streets of Bangkok to stupid fucking Chicago for absolutely no reason at all, except his mother’s annoyingly childish wish of opening a café in New York. Not only were they not in New York, (Ten honestly probably wouldn’t even mind that.) But the “Café” His mother had dreamed of required a barista permit, and so they had settled for a fucking convenience store.

  
Ten should probably have gotten over it by now, he had lived in Northbrook, Chicago, Illinois for three years already. But the now 17-year-old just couldn’t get himself to forgive the world for hurling him out of his perfectly balanced life in Thailand, into a shitstorm of snow, rain and American teenagers. He hated Chicago. It was currently May, widely considered the “prettiest” time to be in Illinois, but all Ten could do was long for Thailand’s average temperature of 30+C°, it was safe to say Chicago’s 23C° was loosing.  
Language had never been an issue for Ten. He was lucky enough to have been enrolled in an international school back in Thailand, (His parents had been well enough off to send him and his sister to an expensive private school back in Thailand, but let’s just throw all that out of the window for fucking Chicago right?!). He still wasn’t too comfortable with speaking though, as he was fully aware that he had a very remarkable accent, and he really didn’t want to be instantly classified as a “typical outsider that couldn’t even speak correct American”, even if his accent was more British sounding than anything else.

  
All Ten wanted was to go back to Thailand. Back to his school, back to the warmth, back to the 20-minute bus ride between his school and the Paragon mall, back to his friends, back to his life. So what better way was there to communicate to his parents that he was unhappy by simply not communicating at all? By wearing big leather jackets, smoking cigarettes and skipping school with the three people in the entirety of Chicago that he tolerated. He was glad he had met Taeyong, Yuta and Doyoung. It was probably the only good thing that had happened since he came to the damn place.

Ten Lee was silent, angry and brooding. And he was determined to stay that way until he was back in the busy streets of Bangkok.

“Hi ehm excuse me.” A deep voice made ten look up from pushing at his very interesting cuticles. He was standing behind the counter in his parents’ shop, he absolutely despised the job, but easy money or whatever.

  
The boy in front of him was stupidly attractive. Tall, broad shoulders and a goofy big smile. He had dark red bangs poking out of a black beanie, wearing a big black puffer jacket and black skinny jeans that hugged his well-defined muscled legs perfectly. Why was there a Greek god in his parents’ shitty convenience store, and why was he talking to Ten?

  
“Can I help you with anything?” Ten asked, trying not to sound flustered as it really wouldn’t fit the gloomy persona he had managed to stay committed to.

  
“Yeah uhm, my mom sent me to pick up some groceries, but like I don’t know what half of the stuff on the list is you know, like I didn’t even know there was a Asian store in Northbrook at all, and I’ve lived here for like all my life.” The guy rambled, scratching his neck awkwardly with an even more awkward grin on his face. Cute.

  
“Let me see it.” Ten mumbled, taking the list from the taller boy.  
“It’s all in Korean.” Ten thought out loud, looking over the list.  
“Oh I’m sorry I shouldn’t have assumed you knew Korean! Where are you from?” The boy apologized, wide eyes.  
“I’m Thai, but I do actually know Korean. Let me help you.” Ten chuckled. The boy smiled widely, mumbling a thanks.

  
Ten swiftly moved around the shop, the tall boy following him with the basket, thanking him every time Ten dropped something from the list in it.

  
“What kind of sugar does your mother use?” Ten asked the boy. He should probably ask for his name.  
“The blue one.” The boy pointed at one of the bags, and Ten dropped it in the now half-full basket.  
“What’s your name by the way?” The boy continued, smiling at Ten.  
“You can call me Ten.” He gave the boy a quick gawky smile, adding a can of sweet red bean paste to the basket.  
“Your name is pretty Ten. I’m Johnny.” Johnny smiled at him, making Ten turn away to hide his blush. Johnny was a pretty name too.

  
“Is your mom making Hotteok?” He asked, looking at the hotteok filling mix in his hands. It was a stupid question, but he felt the need to continue the conversation.  
“Yeah, it’s my little brothers birthday, I think she’s preparing some breakfast on the bed arrangement or something.” Johnny laughed, fixing the beanie on his head. His laugh sounded familiar. He didn’t think much of it. 

  
“I think that’s it.” Ten mumbled, walking back to the counter, a tight lipped smile on his face.  
“Tell me Ten, are you always this quiet, or do you just find me really annoying.” Johnny laughed, putting his basket on the counter-top.  
“I don’t find you annoying, I just don’t usually talk to people like you at all.” Ten shrugged, trying to seem unbothered by the other boy’s words as he started to check out the groceries. He didn't really know how he felt about talking to Johnny. Sure, the boy was cute or whatever, but ten saw a lot of cute guys. There was no reason for Johnny to be any different. 

“People like me?” Johnny asked, he sounded a little offended.

“Yeah, you know, extroverts.” Ten shrugged again, looking up at the taller. He could tell the taller was a typical jock, probably popular but still available, the guy-next-door vibe. The type of person that would instantly lift the mood of a room.

“Oh. Well your voice is lovely, you should talk more, especially in school.” Johnny smiled that goofy smile at him again. Ten felt like someone had dunked his head in a bucket of cold water, they went to the same school?!

“What?” 

“We’re in the same English class you know. You almost never show up though, and when you do, you sit in the back of the classroom with your music in.” Johnny chuckled, Ten could feel him watching as he scanned the items in front of him. 

“Oh, I didn’t think anyone would notice that.” Ten grimaced. How had he not noticed the stupidly attractive boy in his English class. He debated telling Johnny that he didn't even know that they went to the same school, but figured his face had already done that for him.

“Don’t worry about it Ten, you’re cool.” Johnny said like it wasn’t the most un-correct thing Ten had ever heard anyone say. Another grimace.

“Do you know who you just helped!?” His co-worker and his little sister's Tern’s best friend Donghyuck, basically screamed after Johnny had walked out. Donghyuck _always_ screamed   
“You mean Johnny?” Ten asked, taking everything the younger boy said with a grain of salt, Donghyuck had a problem with over-exaggerating.   
“Yeah I mean John Suh! Only like the most popular guy in school.” Donghyuck fanned his face, dramatically sliding down the wall. 

“Okay?” Ten sighed, looking down at his cuticles again, he really needed to paint his nails.

“Okay?! Ten, he is like totally hot, plus he is Mark Lee’s older brother, which means that when you two become friends I can like totally get him to introduce me! And then Mark will like totally fall in love with me and OH MY GOD i'm gonna kiss Mark Lee!” Donghyuck talked fast, Ten was getting annoyed.  
“I’m not planning on becoming friends with him. Watch the counter for a second.” Ten said, getting his jacket from the back of the chair he used to sit in when the store was empty and there was nothing to do.

“Where are you going?” Donghyuck asked. His face still red from the scene he just pulled.

“None of your fucking business.” Ten scoffed, walking into the staff room. The thing with nicotine addictions is that even if you only develop one to piss off your parents, they kind of stick.  
As he walked out of the back door, he couldn’t help but think about Johnny, or John Suh as Donghyuck had called him. Johnny who had noticed that Ten skipped school and didn’t pay attention. Normally he wouldn’t have found that to be so weird, but if what Donghyuck was saying was the truth, and John Suh really was the most popular kid in school, he shouldn’t even know Ten exists. Ten was supposed to fly under the radar, this was not flying under the radar.

  
Ten leaned on the wall outside of the store, looking out over the suburbs. Who places an Asian market in the middle of the Chicago suburbs? Northbrook prided itself in being a safe place for everyone, no matter your race, gender or sexuality, and Ten guessed that’s why his parents chose the place. The problem however, was that Northbrook’s teens were the most boring bland teens Ten had ever observed in his entire life. They all wore the same uniform of hoodies and skinny jeans, and they all went to the same boring high school parties every weekend. It wasn’t a particularly small city, but it felt like everyone knew everyone’s business. There were two major high schools in the area, Glenbrook south and Glenbrook north, friendly rivals, and always the centre attention of drama. Ten wished he could attend one of the smaller schools, or maybe go to a performing art one down in main Chicago. But alas, he was stuck in Glenbrook north.  
He didn’t really have any friends in school, not that he was really interested in anyone there. He had Taeyong, Doyoung and Yuta, that was enough for him. All three of them attended the same performing arts school down in Main Chicago, and Ten often thought about how much better his life would be if he was with them, but it was an expensive private school, and he certainly didn’t have the grades for it either.

  
Ten spent most of his days hanging out at Suhlee’s Coffee & Tea CO, a small café next to Doyoung, Yuta and Taeyong’s school, spending his time there drawing, waiting for them to be done so they could all go to Yuta’s and get high. Well at least that was what he used to do before Taeyong had suddenly started to get this weird parental instinct or something a few weeks ago, where he got super fucking mad if Ten skipped school, smoked, drank or did literally anything fun ever. So instead of Suhlee’s, he’d been spending more and more time walking around in his own neighbourhood. It wasn’t particularly interesting, but it was better than going to school, and it had been giving him a lot of inspiration.

Ten walked back into the shop, a developing headache and lungs a little blacker.

  
“Ten Lee, don’t tell me you’ve started smoking again!” Taeyong screeched as Ten walked out of the staff room. Ten shrugged tiredly. Taeyong looked like he was about to absolutely loose his shit.  
Him and Yuta were standing at the counter with a sizeable mount of snacks on the check-out belt, Yuta was grinning, the inside pockets off his jacket were probably filled with even more _stolen_ snacks, and it was probably stressing the shit out of Taeyong.

“You smoke?” Donghyuck asked, eyes as wide as plates. Another shrug.  
“You’re such a bad influence Ten.” Taeyong groaned, raking his purple painted nails through his smooth jet-black hair. Taeyong was fucking hot. They all were, him, Yuta and Ten himself that is, they all knew it too. All black ripped jeans, leather jackets, nail polish, coloured hair and eyeliner, it was impossible to not know. 

“Where you going?” Ten asked, referring to the snacks, ignoring the ongoing conversation completely.  
“Doyoung got invited to this jock guy’s birthday party or something, so we’re stocking up on munchies.” Yuta explained, Taeyong groaned. That was probably why he was stressing, high Yuta was a handful. 

“Oh, have fun.” Ten gave his friends a small smile, plucking his phone out from his back pocket to have something to fidget with. Ten Lee hated high school parties; his friends loved them.

“What do you mean have fun? You’re coming with us!” Yuta singsunged, grinning widely at Ten.

“No way in hell. You should take Donghyuck and Tern tho, i know you love to take party virginities.” Ten fake grinned back. He would love to have the house to himself for a night. Donghyuck gasped besides him. Now that he had planted the idea in Donghyuck's head, there was absolutely no way he wouldn't go.

“Yes! Ten this is why you’re my favourite!” He giggled, hurrying to give Ten a hug. Ten tried to push him away. His phone lit up with a ding, and before he knew it, Donghyuck had snapped it out of his fingers to look at the notification.

“Oh my fucking god John Suh just asked to follow you on Instagram!” Donghyuck shrieked, jumping up and down over-excitedly a few times.

“Give me my phone back Donghyuck.” Ten just sighed. It made sense that Johnny would request follow him on Instagram, they went to the same school after all.

Ten slumped down in his bed absolutely exhausted. Somehow, he had managed to get out of the party AND made his friends take Donghyuck and Tern, it looked like the universe was finally on his side for once.

His parents were downstairs watching TV, his mom had just looked at him with sad eyes when he had walked past them reeking of cigarettes. He knew he was supposed to feel bad for her, that he was supposed to feel like a disappointment. But the thing was, the only thing he could get himself to feel for his poor mother was anger. She had fucked up everything. He was doing so good in Bangkok. He was popular, happy and had a fucking dream. He used to want to be an artist. Now literally all he wanted was to smoke a joint in peace.

~

Ten woke up late on Saturday. It was already midday when he had finally managed to drag himself out of his bed and into the shower. Ten loved Saturdays. Tern usually spent the entire weekend with Donghyuck, and Yuta, Taeyong and Doyoung were usually hungover and tired for most of the day, which meant that Ten could wake up late, shower and get about an hour of alone time before anyone would try to disturb his peace. Today that peace was disturbed way to early.

  
A notification sounded from Ten’s phone that was laying on the side of the sink as Ten was brushing his teeth. He sighed, picking up the device, thinking it was just Doyoung who wanted to go to the café extra early, or Yuta that wanted to tell him about last night and who he ended up with.

  
***SuhJohn wants to send you a message***

  
“What the fuck?” Ten muttered to himself, clicking on the Instagram notification. He hadn’t let Johnny follow him yesterday, just letting the notification stay unanswered.

 **SuhJohn**  
\- Hi Ten, ik you weren’t in English on Tuesday, so I just wanted to tell you that we have an assignment that counts for 13% of our grade due next Friday:)

  
A small smile crept up on Ten’s face. He didn’t know if he found it cute that Johnny had worried about his grades, or that he thought Ten was actually going to do it. He double tapped the message, signalling to Johnny that he appreciated it but didn’t really care. He then clicked in on Johnny’s profile, Donghyuck had been right about his popularity, he had over six thousand followers, that was a lot for someone who lived in the suburbs of Chicago.  
Johnny’s profile made Ten want to slam his head against a wall. He had always thought the guy was cute, but he was really really really cute on Instagram, and Ten really didn’t want to deal with that right now.

  
His pictures were a mix between some selfies, his friends, some really beautifully shot scenery and him with his friends.

  
He followed Johnny back.

~

Monday morning came fast, too fast. Ten had been perfectly content with lounging in his room, only opening the door once, Doyoung and Yuta wanted to get high but both their parents had been home, and Ten’s room was the only place no one else ever dared to come in. Ten didn’t really like smoking with Yuta, as he had a tendency to get really annoyingly affectionate but being high with Yuta was better than not being high at all.

“Ten, mom says you have to drive us to school today!” Tern yelled from outside of Ten’s door.

“I’m not going today!” He yelled back, he was laying very comfortably underneath his covers, and was not planning on moving at all.

“Dad says you have to! Besides, we have sports day today!” Tern yelled back, before loudly stomping away. Ten sighed, deciding that maybe school was the best option anyways.

Ten was very obviously not the type of guy that was interested in fucking sports day, but contrary to popular belief, he didn’t have anything against it. It was always more fun to people-watch on sports days. Looking at all the different friend groups from different classes gather on the huge field behind the gym, some defeated and annoyed others overenthusiastic and annoying. He didn’t actually have anything better to do anyways, so school it was.

“You’re up!” Ten’s mother smiled warmly at him as he walked into the kitchen, he ignored her.

“Thanks for driving today, you need to pick up Hyuck too.” She said, putting a hand on his shoulder, he shrugged away from it with a grunt. He hadn’t really talked to his parents since he came to Chicago, that he did feel bad for. But now he was already committed to it.

“Ten! I didn’t even know you can drive!” Donghyuck squealed excitedly as he jumped in the backseat.

“And you’re even appropriately dressed for sports day?! Who are you and what have you done to Ten?!” Donghyuck joked, making Tern laugh loudly besides him. Ten scoffed, looking down on his outfit, he was wearing black joggers, a huge black t-shirt and an even bigger grey zip up hoodie, nothing special.

“Don’t you think he looks like a kpop star?” Tern giggled, making Ten swear at her.

“Come with us to our friends.” Donghyuck grabbed Ten’s arm to drag him away the second he got out of the car in the school parking lot.

“No, fuck off.” He yanked his hand back, pulling his hoodie over his head. He was already regretting coming to school.

Donghyuck whined next to him, before happily skipping away hand in hand with Tern. Ten was sure half of the school thought they were dating, or at least that the two of them had something going on. Just as he was about to make his way over to the field, a notification sounded from his phone.

** *Three new messages from _Yuta’s love_ _problems_ * **

  
**Yuta**  
\- Ey 10, you coming to the café today?

  
 **Taeyong**  
\- What do you mean?? He’s going to school!

  
 **Doyoung**  
\- Do you have to take this in the gc?

 **Me**  
I’m at school rn, had to drive the kids, I’ll come to the café –

  
 **Taeyong**  
\- Ten please please just stay at school i can NOT deal with this today<//3

  
 **Yuta**  
\- When are you here?

  
 **Me**  
30min –

Ten closed his phone, ignoring the flood of notifications, Taeyong was probably loosing his shit.  
He was about to sit back down in the car, when someone called his name.

“Hi Ten!” Johnny was jogging towards him, the same goofy smile from the shop present on his face. He was wearing a pair of black basketball shorts, and a white t-shirt whit the arms rolled up mimicking a tank top. If Ten hadn’t already noticed the other boys incredible beauty, he surely would’ve now.  
Ten gave him a curt nod, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You leaving?” Johnny stopped in front of him, nodding his head in the direction of the open car door.

“Yeah.” Ten looked down at his sneakers, wanting to look everywhere else than the 180cm+ Greek god in front of him.

“Why? Sports day is fun!” Johnny laughed, Ten’s heart did a flip.

“I guess.” Ten cleared his throat. Why the fuck was Johnny talking to him.

“So where you going?” Either Johnny didn’t take the hint that Ten didn’t really want to keep the conversation going, or he was choosing completely ignore it.

“Nowhere special.” Ten lied, looking back up at Johnny again.

“Tell me, what do I have to do to make you comfortable around me?” Johnny smiled, looking Ten in the eyes.

Ten wanted the earth beneath him to open up and swallow him whole.  
He was a blushing, speechless mess.

“I’m sorry.” Ten couched, looking up at the sky, letting his face burn. Johnny laughed.

“It’s fine. You wanna go over to the field or are you still leaving?” Johnny raked his fingers through his hair, only now Ten realised that he had huge hands.

  
Before Ten could answer, Johnny cleared his throat, making Ten look up at him. He had the same goofy grin as always, but there was something in his eyes, something that made Ten’s insides do a flip. Johnny’s eyes looked hopeful.

“I know you were gonna skip, but I promise I’m gonna make it worth staying.” Ten once again found himself speechless, only giving Johnny a quick nod and an awkward smile.

As the two of them made their way over to the field, Ten couldn’t help but notice all the weird looks they were getting. Johnny was hot tall and popular, Ten was the complete opposite, he wasn’t surprised.

“You do realise being seen with me is the same as social suicide for people like you right?” Ten was only half joking. He didn’t actually know how others perceived him, and he didn’t want to either. In his dream world, no one would perceive him, ever. However, he didn’t imagine he was getting any kind of positive attention, if any at all that was.

“What are you talking about? Half the people here are like, in love with you.” Johnny scoffed; a grimace painted on his face. He was looking at Ten like he was acting stupid. Ten stopped walking.

“I think you’re mistaking me for someone else.” He mumbled. It made so much sense, why Johnny was being so nice and friendly towards him. He probably just looked like someone else, someone cool.

“You’re not Ten Lee?” Johnny laughed.

“Yes but-“

“Because I’m pretty sure I’m talking to the right guy. People notice the super-hot bad boy that skips school and only hangs out with kids from the Academy you know. You’re not as invisible as you think you are Ten Lee.”

Ten was _not_ having a good day. After Johnny had very kindly explained to him that he wasn’t nearly as un-perceived as he thought he was, he had politely excused himself and hurriedly walked back to his car. He had very simply not been ready for the earth-shattering realisation that his hermit-like tendencies had in fact not worked the way he intended at all. He didn’t want to have a life in Chicago, he wanted to go as un-noticed as possible, so that the second he graduated high school (he did actually have decent grades considering his horrible attendance), he could be on his way back to Thailand with as few strings to Chicago as possible. This was definitely a thick, strong string he had to cut as soon as possible.

  
Johnny had tried to call after him, Ten had ignored him, figuring that he was allowed to be a little bitch as he was having a very uncomfortable out of body experience.  
It wasn’t before he sat down in the car, slamming the door shut, that he saw Johnny had followed him. The taller boy looked concerned, quickly walking up to his window.  
Ten felt his clammy hands leave the steering wheel he had been gripping onto lean over to apprehensively roll down the window, hoping Johnny would make whatever had possessed him to follow Ten quick. His mouth was watering and his hair was already damp with anxious sweat, he really needed to cool down.

  
“I’m sorry Ten. Are you okay?” Johnny leaned down so that his face was at the same level as the car window.

“I’m fine. I just need to get the fuck out of here.” Ten muttered, looking around the parking space. It was much emptier now that school was about to begin, and everyone were already gathered at the field. But there were still enough people around, that Ten now realised were all fucking looking at them, to make him extremely uncomfortable.

“Where are you going?” Johnny followed Ten’s eyes, frowning a little as he saw the people looking at them.

“I don’t know. Just not here.” Ten was starting to get annoyed now, he did actually like talking to Johnny, but the audience was absolutely infuriating. He twisted his car key, starting up the engine.

“Can I come with?” Johnny asked, a nervous smile on his face.

“You want to what now? Why?” Ten whipped his head back to look at Johnny, to say he was surprised would be an understatement.

“Cause I want to get to know you.” Johnny smiled wider, Ten felt his head spin a little.

“Why?” Ten asked again, just as shocked. He had been under the impression that Johnny had been talking to him to be polite, not that he wanted to actually get to know him.

“Come on Ten, can I come with or not?” Johnny laughed. Ten, bewildered as ever, just nodded, jabbing his thumb towards the passenger seat, signalling for the other to get in.

“I’m sorry for earlier Ten, didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Johnny said as they drove out of the parking space.

“It’s fine. I just didn’t realise people even noticed me.” Ten mumbled, doing everything in his power to focus on the road and not the stupidly attractive boy sitting next to him. He drove out of the parking space, turning

“Tell me Ten, do you not know that you’re like, breathtakingly beautiful?” It sounded like Johnny was asking him a genuine question, which only made Ten even more flustered. He felt his breath hitch in his throat, quickly peeking at the boy in the passenger seat. He was looking back at him, a playful smirk on his face. If Ten didn’t know better, he would’ve though Johnny was flirting with him.

“Don’t do that.” Ten muttered, focusing intently on the road.

“Do what?” Johnny asked.

“Tell me things that make my heart skip a beat like it’s nothing, for nothing.” Ten couldn’t stop the words from spilling out, making a grimace after he realised what he’d just confessed to.

“I don’t do it for nothing, I do it so I can see your adorable face scrunch up when you get all flustered.” Johnny said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ten couldn’t handle it anymore.

“If you don’t shut up I’m gonna accidentally crash the car and then we’ll both die before I even get to kiss you.” Ten hissed, making Johnny coo at him.

“I’m gonna kiss _you_.”


	2. Chasing Pavements

Ten could sense Johnny’s growing confusion as he drove into his own driveway.  
“Is this your house?” The boy in the passenger seat asked, eyes wide and cheeks redder by the second. It took Ten a few seconds to realize what the other was flushing over.  
“Oh get your mind out of the gutter, I’m just getting something from my room. Just stay in the car.” Ten laughed, quickly undoing his seatbelt and getting out of the car.  
It wasn’t exactly above Ten to take the taller boy to his room, but he figured he should probably try not to make any too rash decisions considering he actually quite liked Johnny.

It wasn’t until Ten was already in his room, fishing out the baggie Yuta had left on Saturday from underneath his pillow (don’t ask) that he realised that he was supposed to be at the café. In about five minutes, when he’d be officially late, Yuta (and probably also Taeyong) would start to spam message him. Yuta annoyed that he was late, like always, and Taeyong probably worried sick. He knew them, and he really didn’t feel like dealing with them.

**_Yuta’s love problems_ **

**_Me_ **

I’ll be like kinda rlly late, bringing a friend (?)-

_**Yuta** _

\- A FRIEND?!?!??!?!

_**Doyoung** _

\- What the fuck is this?? I’m intrigued

_**Taeyong** _

\- Why are you late? Did anything happen?? Who’s the friend? Hyuck? Kun? TAEIL??

**_Me_ **

Donghyuck is NOT my friend! Kun’s YOUR friend and wtf no Taeil is like, ancient???-

_**Doyoung** _

\- He is ONE year older than us what the fuck

**_Yuta_ **

\- Yeah but he like, acts old or whatever

_**Taeyong** _

\- Kun’s your friend too Ten! >:(  
\- Hyuck too, you need to stop pushing nice people away from you!  
\- Who’s the new friend?? Is it the person Hyuckie was talking about in the store on Friday? Josh?

_**Yuta** _

\- Jack! I’m still shocked someone Hyuck knows wanna be your friend lol, like in what universe

_**Me** _

His name is John*– 

And also fuck you Yuta–

Ten sighed dramatically, putting the phone on mute before slamming his bedroom door shut and hurriedly walking back out to the car.

Johnny was scrolling aimlessly through his phone when Ten opened the car door again. He looked up at the other boy with a smile on his face.  
“Got worried you left me here for a second.” Johnny dropped his phone in his lap, giving Ten his undivided attention.  
  
“Sorry, didn’t mean to keep you waiting. Do you wanna join me and my friends, we were going to get a coffee? I get it if you don’t wanna join so no pressure or anything I just thought that you’d maybe want to since you asked to come with me and-“  
“I would love to join you guys.” Johnny interrupted Ten’s rambling, a stern smile on his face. Ten could feel his face heat up, vibrant blush spreading from his chest to his neck and face.  
“Okay.” He muttered out, starting up the engine.

About half an hour later, Ten pulled into the parking lot of his friends school, The Chicago academy for the arts, locally referred to as the academy or CAA. It was the most obnoxiously annoying place Ten had ever encountered, everyone that attended the school knew they were set up for some form of success, and they had more school pride than was probably neccecary. Ten thought that if he went to CAA, he’d probably not hate Chicago as much as he did.

Johnny had been enthusiastically telling him about how him and his best friend “Jaehyun” had accidentally tried out for the Basketball team instead of the Volleyball team in their freshman year, and how they had grown to absolutely adore the sport.  
And for the first time in quite a while, Ten found that he was actually listening. He was listening to Johnny’s story, coming with commentary, and _caring_ about what the other boy was telling him. Ten had missed the feeling of caring _a lot_.

The two boys decided that it would be better to just walk over to the café and wait there, normally at least one of Ten’s friends would ditch the beginning or end of whatever class they were attending to indulge Ten whenever he came over, but lately they’d been opting to just come over in their free periods and breaks instead (courtesy of Taeyong of course), and right now, class wouldn’t be out for another twenty minutes. Plus the walk to Suhlee’s Coffee & Tea CO wasn’t more than five minutes at max, and Ten really didn’t feel like waiting for his friends in the school parking lot.

“Hey Ten, what’s the name of the café we’re going to?” Johnny asked as they walked out of the parking lot, he really used Ten’s name a lot when he spoke. Ten found it a little more charming than he should have.  
“Suhlee’s Coffee & Tea CO, why?” Ten quipped back. Johnny grinned at him in response.  
“Just wondering.” Johnny beamed, slinging his arm over Ten’s shoulder. Ten could not believe the fucking audacity of him. Slinging his arm over his shoulder like it was nothing, like it wasn’t giving Ten a heart attack, like they were close enough to do that. Maybe they were close enough, Johnny had already seen Ten cry, and in some weird unconventional way, Ten knew more about Johnny’s life than he did any of his other American friends. All that after a 15-minute trip to the store and an hour of skipping school. There was definitely a weird relationship dynamic building between them.

“Welcome to Suhlee’s Coffee and- Oh hi Johnny! Finally got him to notice you huh!” The girl behind the counter nodded her head in Ten’s direction and quirked a brow at Johnny, a playful smirk on her face. Ten guessed she knew him.  
“Hi Joy, nice to see you too. Can we order now?” Johnny rolled his eyes, tightening his grip around Ten’s shoulders.  
“Yeah alright. One iced americano and what will you have?” The girl behind the counter, Joy, turned to ten. She was pretty, long dark hair with green tips, smooth skin and full lips.  
“I’ll have one dirty chai latte.” Ten gave her a stiff smile.  
“Alrighty then, anything to eat with that?” She asked, jotting down their order on a small piece of paper.  
“Yeah, I’ll have a chocolate chip cookie.” Johnny let go of Ten’s shoulder to lean his weight on the counter. Ten wished he would put it back.  
“Mhmm, it’s on the house.” Joy smiled, winking at the two of them before starting to make Johnny’s drink.  
“It always is.” Johnny laughed, before standing upright again.  
“Come on, let’s find a quiet table.”

“How do you know Joy?” Ten asked as they sat down at the table furthest in the corner of the small café . As much as Ten came here, he never really talked to the workers, he figured he should probably try to be more friendly.  
“Well she works here you know.” Johnny smiled at him. Ten was lost.  
“Yeah, and?”  
“And well you know, my parents own the place, I work here too.” Johnny laughed. Ten felt his face heat up, a dark blush creeping up his neck and ears. He seemed to do that a lot when he was with Johnny, get tomato red over the simplest of things.  
“You work here? But I’ve never seen you here?!” Ten groaned, hiding his face in his hands. He was fucking embarrassed. He had probably spent more time at Suhlee’s than any other place (except for the “Caturday cat café” back in Thailand), and he hadn’t even noticed that Johnny worked there, not only that, but that his family owned the place. It was embarrassing that he had been so in his own little bubble that he hadn’t even noticed the super hot guy behind the counter, that Ten guessed had had a thing for him for a while based on the way Joy had said “Finally got him to notice him huh?”. Ten wanted to jump out of the window.

“You do seem to be pretty into your drawing when you’re here, about that, should I be offended that you’ve probably drawn every other member of staff and regular customer except me? I feel like I should take that as an personal offence.” Johnny snorted, raking his hair out of his face with his fingers.  
“Please don’t, if I had noticed you before I’m sure you would be the subject to more than a few of my drawings. I usually just pic the first person I see that looks like they’ll stay still for a while.” Ten crossed his arms over his chest, he didn’t know how he felt about the fact that Johnny, and probably several of the other workers knew that he had a tendency to draw them and other customers.  
“I’ll be waiting then, I’m also expecting to see your drawings by the way.” Johnny fuckin smirked at him.  
And in that moment, Ten thought that he was lucky that he had met him. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, Joy called Johnny over to get their drinks.

“Ten Lee!” Yuta wailed as he slung himself down on the couch besides Ten, an arm around his shoulder and a wild grin on his face.  
“You know that like super hot barista that always works Friday afternoons, well he’s here as a customer today and I’m like totally in love with him and I just want him to ask me out oh my god.” Yuta started to ramble into Ten’s ear with a low voice. Taeyong sat down on the other side of Ten in the couch, and Doyoung took the unoccupied chair next to Johnny’s empty one.  
“Oh my god don’t even start talking about the barista again Yuta, Ten might have selective hearing but I don’t.” Doyoung huffed, a sour expression on his face.  
“Oh my fucking god he’s coming over.” Yuta screeched, pulling himself off Ten’s neck to brush off his already clean shirt. Yuta was your typical hopeless romantic, thinking everything and everyone would end up in an elaborate romance fan-fiction like story with him or the person he _shipped_ them with.  
Ten looked up at whoever Yuta was freaking out over, only to be met with the sight of Johnny carrying their drinks and cookies on a wooden tray.

Johnny sat the tray down on their table, putting the plate with Ten’s cookie and drink in front of him before sitting down in his own chair.

“Hi guys, I’m John.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the late (and short) update!!


End file.
